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What is a cloud access security broker (CASB)?

Safely enabling cloud services for people and enterprises

According to Gartner, a cloud access security broker (CASB) is an on-premises or cloud-based security policy enforcement point that is placed between cloud service consumers and cloud service providers to combine and interject enterprise security policies as cloud-based resources are accessed.

Organizations are increasingly turning to CASB vendors to address cloud service risks, enforce security policies, and comply with regulations, even when cloud services are beyond their perimeter and out of their direct control.

If you intend to use CASB to increase your confidence about your organization’s cloud service usage, consider taking a granular approach to policy enforcement and data protection. In other words, consider using a scalpel rather than a sledgehammer for your cloud security.

Netskope continues to be a Leader in the Gartner 2019 Magic Quadrant (MQ) for CASB

For the third consecutive year, Gartner recognizes Netskope as a Leader in the Magic Quadrant for Cloud Access Security Brokers based upon completeness of vision and ability to execute. The Netskope Security Cloud platform is recognized by Gartner as being furthest on the completeness of vision axis.

The four pillars of CASBs

Companies need visibility and control across both managed and unmanaged cloud services. Rather than take an “allow” or “block” stance on all cloud services, cloud brokerage should enable IT to say “yes” to useful services while still governing access to activities and data within services. This could mean offering full access to a sanctioned suite like Microsoft Office 365 to users on corporate devices, but web-only email to users on unmanaged devices. It could also mean enforcing a “no sharing outside of the company” policy across a category of unsanctioned services. While cloud security is the key focus of a cloud access security broker, another value provided is helping you get your arms around cloud spend. A CASB can help you discover all cloud services in use, report on what your cloud spend is, and find redundancies in functionality and license costs. A CASB can produce valuable business and financial information as well as protection.

As organizations move more of their data and systems to the cloud, they must ensure they comply with the many regulations designed to ensure the safety and privacy of personal or corporate data. And with the growth of data usage, regulations are constantly updating. Cloud access security brokers can help ensure compliance in the cloud whether you are a healthcare organization worried about HIPAA or HITECH compliance, a retail company concerned with PCI compliance, or a financial services organization needing to comply with FFIEC and FINRA. A CASB can help safeguard your company against costly data breaches by maintaining the data regulations set by your industry.

Accuracy comes from using highly sophisticated cloud DLP detection mechanisms like document fingerprinting, combined with reducing detection surface area using context (user, location, activity, etc.). When sensitive content is discovered in or en route to the cloud, the cloud access security broker (CASB) should allow IT the option of shuttling suspected violations efficiently to their on-premises systems for further analysis. Deeper research on threat observations aids your company in identifying and stopping malicious activity before it escalates, a CASB can act as a gatekeeper and facilitate this. Expert on both IT needs and business practices, CASBs take a skilled approach to sharpen an organization’s security.

Organizations need to ensure their employees aren’t introducing or propagating cloud malware and threats through vectors such as cloud storage services and their associated sync clients and services. This means being able to scan and remediate threats across internal and external networks, in real-time when an employee tries to share or upload an infected file. This also means detecting and preventing unauthorized user access to cloud services and data, which can help to identify compromised accounts.

A CASB can defend an organization against a host of cloud threats and malware. It’s vital for your company to avoid threats that are capable of combining prioritized static and dynamic malware analysis for advanced threat intelligence. Some threats may originate from—or be further propagated by—cloud services, proper threat protection can be your shield.

Companies need visibility and control across both managed and unmanaged cloud services. Rather than take an “allow” or “block” stance on all cloud services, cloud brokerage should enable IT to say “yes” to useful services while still governing access to activities and data within services. This could mean offering full access to a sanctioned suite like Microsoft Office 365 to users on corporate devices, but web-only email to users on unmanaged devices. It could also mean enforcing a “no sharing outside of the company” policy across a category of unsanctioned services. While cloud security is the key focus of a cloud access security broker, another value provided is helping you get your arms around cloud spend. A CASB can help you discover all cloud services in use, report on what your cloud spend is, and find redundancies in functionality and license costs. A CASB can produce valuable business and financial information as well as protection.

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As organizations move more of their data and systems to the cloud, they must ensure they comply with the many regulations designed to ensure the safety and privacy of personal or corporate data. And with the growth of data usage, regulations are constantly updating. Cloud access security brokers can help ensure compliance in the cloud whether you are a healthcare organization worried about HIPAA or HITECH compliance, a retail company concerned with PCI compliance, or a financial services organization needing to comply with FFIEC and FINRA. A CASB can help safeguard your company against costly data breaches by maintaining the data regulations set by your industry.

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Accuracy comes from using highly sophisticated cloud DLP detection mechanisms like document fingerprinting, combined with reducing detection surface area using context (user, location, activity, etc.). When sensitive content is discovered in or en route to the cloud, the cloud access security broker (CASB) should allow IT the option of shuttling suspected violations efficiently to their on-premises systems for further analysis. Deeper research on threat observations aids your company in identifying and stopping malicious activity before it escalates, a CASB can act as a gatekeeper and facilitate this. Expert on both IT needs and business practices, CASBs take a skilled approach to sharpen an organization’s security.

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Organizations need to ensure their employees aren’t introducing or propagating cloud malware and threats through vectors such as cloud storage services and their associated sync clients and services. This means being able to scan and remediate threats across internal and external networks, in real-time when an employee tries to share or upload an infected file. This also means detecting and preventing unauthorized user access to cloud services and data, which can help to identify compromised accounts.

A CASB can defend an organization against a host of cloud threats and malware. It’s vital for your company to avoid threats that are capable of combining prioritized static and dynamic malware analysis for advanced threat intelligence. Some threats may originate from—or be further propagated by—cloud services, proper threat protection can be your shield.

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Top CASB use case categories

01

Govern usage

Well-known for efficiency in discovering shadow IT behaviors, CASBs are also savvy across further organization security. A CASB can govern your organization’s cloud usage with granular visibility and control. Rather than take a coarse-grained approach by blocking services, govern usage based on identity, service, activity, application, and data. Define policies based on service category or risk and choose from actions such as block, alert, bypass, encrypt, quarantine, and coach for policy enforcement. Then, alert your IT team for actions taken against any policy in place for internal monitoring.

02

Secure data

Protect and prevent the loss of sensitive data across all of the cloud services in your environment, not just the ones you sanction. Take advantage of advanced, enterprise DLP to discover and protect sensitive data in sanctioned cloud services and en route to or from any cloud service, sanctioned or unsanctioned, whether users are on-premises or remote, on a mobile device or accessing from a web browser, or entering from a mobile app or sync client. Combat loss of data with encryption, tokenization, or upload prevention.

03

Protect against threats

Guard against cloud-based threats such as malware and ransomware. Start with full visibility of all cloud services, even those using SSL-encrypted connections. Use anomaly detection, and threat intelligence sources such as which of your users has compromised accounts. Then, layer in static and dynamic anti-malware detections, plus machine learning to detect ransomware. Finally, arm the rest of your security infrastructure with your findings through out-of-the-box integrations and workflows. Threats will continue to innovate their approach, so your CASB vendor should too.

The CASB checklist

Your organization is evaluating cloud access security brokers to safely enable sanctioned and unsanctioned cloud services. This checklist gives you specific, use case-based examples that will help you differentiate between the CASB vendors you may be evaluating.

A: Rather than take a sledgehammer to the service by blocking it, take a scalpel to an activity such as "share"; Do it at a category level – across any cloud storage service, for example. This lets you allow, not block services while mitigating risk.

A: Rather than find and secure content in just your sanctioned service, do it across both sanctioned and unsanctioned services, and for content that's at rest and en route. Also, minimize false positives and increase accuracy by reducing the surface area through context. Filter out the cloud transactions you care about by removing users, services, categories, locations, and activities from what you inspect and enforce policy.

A: Rather than keep regulated services on-premises, migrate them to the cloud while also complying with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley. Report on access and data modifications within cloud-based systems of record.

A: Rather than be forced into a CASB vendor's deployment model, choose the deployment that best fits your requirements, now and in the future.

Gartner CASB MQ 2019: Shifting Through the Looking Glass

The new Gartner CASB MQ 2019 has been released and Netskope is excited to be recognized as a Leader for the third consecutive year.

Netskope was positioned furthest on the “completeness of vision” axis, which we believe validates our leading technology, integrated architecture, unified console and policy configuration, the expanding breadth of our offering, and the long-term vision of our company.